Board ties Twin Rivers entrance to future development

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — If everything goes according to plan, come August the Twin Rivers subdivision may no longer be landlocked.

The Board of Trustees approved Feb. 27 the tentative preliminary plan for phases two and three of the subdivision, tying the development of its second phase to the construction of a road connecting the subdivision to Hall Road.

For more than a decade, the only entrance into the subdivision has been via a connecting road to an adjacent subdivision and through an unmaintained dirt road from Hall Road, which residents say is hardly suitable for driving.

The developer would not be able to begin work on phase three until the road was completed. Additionally, a consent judgment between the township and the developer gave Twin Rivers LLC until Aug. 1 to build the road.

“So hopefully we’ll begin the journey this evening,” said Township Clerk Michael Koehs before the vote.

Residents of Twin Rivers have called living in the subdivision a health hazard. Emergency responders have gotten lost while attempting to enter or exit the subdivision, according to residents.

At the Feb. 27 meeting, Twin Rivers resident Juliana Sabatini said she was “shocked” that the township was ready to approve the first steps for a new development before the road was completed.

“We are a landlocked subdivision,” Sabatini said. “We are commuting through other subdivisions to get to our subdivision. We’ve had numerous health and safety concerns.”

Sabatini said the township shouldn’t put the “cart before the horse again.”

“We need to get the road put in before we create more health and safety risks that we already dealt with in the past and that we are continuing to deal with before we continue adding more traffic, more development and everything else to the subdivision.”

But the township claimed that, in order for the road to be built, development had to continue. The issue will have to come to the board twice more before construction on the road can begin, said Larry Dloski, the township’s legal counsel.

Dloski said there are in place as many safeguards as possible to ensure the road is constructed.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty out there … but we have tried to put together a package that would best guarantee that the road gets constructed,” Dloski said.

Trustee Dino Bucci was less confident that an entrance off Hall Road would be built.

“For the record, I am also very skeptical about this,” Bucci said. “I hope and pray that this works out for the residents of this subdivision because they’ve suffered long enough.

“I will be watching this one extremely close because I feel the developer owes those residents that road from the first phase. So let’s make sure he does it for the second and third.”